Book: Death in Venice

Author: Thomas Mann
Publisher:

This is probably the most famous of all the works of Thomas Mann and in it he explores the relationship between Art and Life and especially that of the artist and life. It is a deeply intellectual piece of writing, beautifully constructed and definitely has moral and ethical messages at its heart. Ostensibly it tells the (autobiographical) tale of a famous middle-aged author who becomes obsessed with a young adolescent boy due to his beauty whilst on holiday in Venice. This leads to tragic consequences in the end but this plot is a vehicle of a tightly constructed exposition by Mann on the relation between ethics, morality, beauty, love and human existence and his thus highly philisophical in nature. It is not easy reading but is definitely rewarding. It is easy to see how this is a masterpiece of European (German) literature.